Why councils could be knocking on death’s door in the race for business

Author: Guardian   |  

The Guardian Public Services Network covers the publication of our recent report Making Devolution Work. Read their article in full here and the report itself here.

Council bosses are a collegiate bunch, but they fear being pitched into an era of divide and rule, as local politicians compete for resources. One answer will lie in pulling together many different strands. Chief executives and local politicians must become more like Osborne. Like him, they need to be magpies and steal good ideas wherever they can find them.

One way to do that is through even-closer partnerships with other local bodies. A guide to devolution, published on Wednesday by thinktank Localis and consultancy Grant Thornton says it is impossible to overstate the importance of councils having “non-local authority bodies onside”. That means working much more closely with clinical commissioning groups, universities, housing associations, the voluntary sector and the wider business community.